Working with the Media

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Working with the Media
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Objectives

• Participants will leave with
• A greater comfort with the idea of working with
  the media.
• Knowledge of the tools available for getting
  media coverage.
• An understanding of the underlying rules of
  working with the media.
• Confidence to go out and try it!

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AGENDA

• Context why do media?
• 3 Steps to Getting media coverage
• Know your media market
• Strategery!
• Just Do it! Media How Tos
• Letters to the Editor
• Reporter Meetings
• Press Events
• Advanced Media Tips!
• QA

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Fears/Anxieties of working with the Media
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Why get media attention?

• We do media because it helps us to WIN!
• Generates Buzz/Hype around our campaign
• Gets people interested new volunteers, keeps
  old volunteers psyched
• Educates the general public on our work and on
  the issues
• The GOAL of media is to ADVANCE your Campaign

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3 Easy Steps to Generate Media Attention
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STEP ONE

• Get to know your Media Market
• and create your Media Wish List

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Ask yourself Who is our audience? Where do
they get their information?
BRAINSTORM!!! What types of media outlets do
we want to cover our story??
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Create your Media List!

• Make a list of campus and local/state-wide
  newspapers, radio and TV stations, in order of
  priority
• Dont forget to think outside of the box for
  other outlets- like popular blogs, magazines,
  weekly papers, etc.

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Know your reporters!

• Read the papers, listen to the radio, and watch
  the TV stations that you want your story to
  appear in
• Goals
• Become familiar with the types of stories that
  are covered
• Identify reporters that might be interested in
  our story and get a feel for their style
• Keep track of great stories on Climate Change or
  related issues, so you can mention them when you
  contact the reporters

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STEP TWO

• Create your Media Game Plan!

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Types of Media Coverage

• Letter to the Editor
• Reporter coverage newspaper article, TV story,
  radio story
• Editorial and op-eds (opinion pieces)
• Feature Articles
• Blog hit
• Columns
• In this training, well focus on the first two.

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Ways to get covered

• Have a media event and invite press to attend
• Write and submit letters to the editor
• Write an Opinion piece and get a VIP to sign and
  submit
• Build relationships with reporters and editorial
  boards and tell them about your story

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Strategize!

• Create goals of how many different types of media
  coverage you want to get before the end of the
  semester/year
• Make a plan to achieve those goals!

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STEP THREE

• Just do it!
• Media How Tos

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A. Letters to the Editor (LTEs)

• What is a Letter to the Editor?
• Why?
• Opinion page most read
• Public attention and information
• Attention of decision-makers
• When?
• LTEs are best in response to a recently published
  article, but you can write them any time
  (especially for on-campus papers).

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Letters to the Editor

• How?
• Keep it short! 150-250 words. Depends on paper
  check their websites for guidelines
• Make it personal talk about why you care or
  what you are doing
• Stick to one point
• Follow up call up the paper to make sure they
  got it
• Send in 3, get 1 published
• Bonus Writing LTEs can be a great action for a
  meeting or tabling event!
• Have samples available, and articles to respond
  to
• Have the above list of tips available
• You can do the follow-up or make sure that they
  do

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Sample Letter to the Editor

• Young and Green
• Published in the Washington Post on Wednesday,
  September 20, 2006
• In "An Inconvenient Truth About Youth" op-ed,
  Sept. 11, Laura Wray and Constance Flanagan
  contend that the apathy of young people toward
  conservation will be changed only through
  government action. Considering the Bush
  administration's environmental record, we're in a
  world of trouble if they're correct. Good thing
  they're wrong.
• Far from shirking their responsibility to our
  planet, young people are leading the way in the
  fight to stop global warming -- and to open their
  elders' eyes to the crisis.
• Two examples Students at Western Washington
  University taxed themselves an extra 19 in
  student fees to fund the purchase of renewable
  energy, and students at Pennsylvania State
  University -- where Ms. Flanagan teaches and Ms.
  Wray studies -- gathered more than 4,700 letters
  asking the administration to embrace the Kyoto
  Protocol. They have also secured green building
  standards, a campus wind turbine and a plan to
  have 22 percent of the school's power come from
  renewables by 2012.
• That is only the tip of the (melting) iceberg.
  Youth is leading government should follow.
• ELIZA SIMON
• National Campus Climate Challenge Organizer
• Sierra Student Coalition
• Washington

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B. Reporter Coverage

• There are many ways to get reporter coverage
• Reporter meeting
• Inviting them to an event
• Pitching a story
• Press conference
• Lets focus on two Reporter meetings and Events!
• Note Press conferences arent all that different
  than events, so this advice will apply to both!

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Reporter Meetings

• Why do them?
• Build relationship
• Give all relevant info to reporter serve as a
  resource for them
• Easy lots of bang for your buck
• Long-term payoff you dont always get the
  article right away, but you almost always get it
  eventually
• How to
• Call and ask.
• Prepare
• Show up!
• This is a remarkably easy way to get coverage-
  its surprising more people dont try it!

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Event Coverage

• Why?
• Great way to generate buzz around our work!
• Media demand for reporting on whats going on in
  the community
• Makes an event even more exciting

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Media Events the possibilities are endless!

• Dorm energy contest, award presentation to winner
  
• State summit
• Green film festival
• Panel of speakers or a debate
• Clean car show priuses, etc
• Enviro speaker or debate
• Movie night
• Climate kegger
• Kegs not coal
• Do it in the Dark Party
• Climate Neutral Parties
• Wandering bear
• Boxing match
• Dance-off between wind turbine and coal
• Duel between smokestack and windmill
• Screening of old Captain Planet episodes
• Show the waterline with kayaks

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Alert the Media!

• Call to invite reporters to cover the event
• Find name and phone of appropriate reporter
  local, environmental, etc.
• Prep script very brief
• Call em up!
• Call 2-3 days before event (after advisory is
  sent)
• Call day before event to remind
• Call day of to confirm anyone that said yes.

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Sample pitch callCalling the reporter that
covers local news for the local paper

• Ask for the specific reporter
• Introduce yourself. Explain the organization
  youre with.
• Invite them to event
• Paint an exciting picture of the event
• Be sure to describe visuals
• Who will be there theyll be available for
  interviews
• Ask if theyll come cover the event
• Set up a follow-up plan

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Press Advisory

• Press Advisory
• Send to all reporters you speak to
• Email and/or fax to any other media outlet you
  want to come
• 2-3 days prior to event

• Format
• One page with
• Your Contact info
• Headline and Sub-header
• What
• Who
• When
• Where
• Visuals

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Press Release

• This is the story as youd write it
• Have it ready at the event to give to any
  reporters
• Format
• One page, no longer
• Inverted Pyramid format
• First paragraph is summary of entire story
• Include juicy quotes

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Anatomy of Press Release

• Include date of release
• Your contact info
• Strong Headline (in bold), include action verbs,
  no Acronyms
• Sub-header (in italics)
• Lead paragraph included 5Ws
• Second paragraph is the lead quote, contains your
  frame.
• More background info and quotes to follow avoid
  jargon
• Last paragraph gives reporter heads up on next
  step
• Ends with to show the end

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Prepare talking points

• If you could say three sound bites about your
  campaign and the event, what would they be?
• Prep anyone that may be interviewed
• Example
• Rutgers administration needs to take on the
  Campus Climate Challenge and reduce our campus
  global warming emissions.
• Our campus alone emits 300,000lbs of carbon
  dioxide into the air each year
• Rutgers students want our school to be a leader
  in clean energy solutions

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ADVANCED MEDIA TIPS
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About Reporters...

• Not your friends
• Always a reporter
• Need you
• Just as you need them
• Do your homework! They want to see that you know
  your stuff.

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Where is the reporter coming from?

• Theyre not (generally) experts on climate change
• Theyre often working on multiple stories at once
• Theyre on deadline under pressure from their
  editors
• They want a good story
• Their editors want to sell papers.

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Tips for working with the Media

• Stay on Message
• Credibility is your only asset
• Stay on Message
• Dont Lie (remember rule 2)
• Follow-up
• Talk to them like you would your in-laws
• Never thank them
• Do the work for them
• There is no off the record
• Oh, and Stay on Message

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• Always tell the truth then you dont have to
  remember anything.
• --- Mark Twain

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• I am now ready to give the answers I have
  prepared for your questions -- Charles
  DeGaulle

Do you have any questions for my
answers? --Henry Kissinger
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Effective Messages

• Brief--Bumper sticker test
• Simple
• Accurate
• Vivid, colorful language

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(No Transcript)
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Support Your Messages

• Facts
• Statistics (sparingly)
• Examples
• Experts

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Story Angles What Makes Something Newsworthy?

• New
• Fresh angle on an old story
• Local
• Local angle on national issue
• National connection to local issue
• Human Interest Angle
• Celebrity
• Heroes Villains
• Conflict
• Controversy
• Strange Bedfellows

• Visual/Colorful Quotes or Images
• Trend
• Special Event
• Timely
• Milestone
• Anniversary

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Preparing for an Interview

• List key messages 3 main soundbites!
• Anticipate questions
• Prepare responses
• Do your homework on the reporter, publication or
  program, and interview format

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Interviews for Print

• Print
• Longer, more detailed interview
• Possibly more knowledgeable reporter
• Questions repeated in different ways to get
  response
• Chance to correct misstatement

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Radio Interviews

• Radio
• Emphasis on delivery voice, inflection, pace
• Need to speak visually
• OK to use notes

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Telephone Interview Tips

• Buy preparation time if possible
• Establish an interview setting
• Clear your desk
• Close the door
• Use notes
• Keep message points in front of you
• Speak distinctly
• Use short declarative sentences
• Avoid ambiguity and subtlety

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TV Interviews

• Television
• Short, simple answers crucial theyre looking
  for a short soundbite
• Stick to your message!
• Emphasis on appearance, technique
• If its not live, its ok to ask to do it again
• Practice, Practice, Practice!

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Ten Tips

• Use simple, direct answers
• Repeat yourself
• Pause
• Shut up
• Avoid jargon

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Ten Tips

• 6. Dont say no comment
• 7. Dont repeat negative
• 8. Tell the truth
• 9. Keep your cool
• 10. Be yourself

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Interviewees Bill of Rights

• You Have the Right to
• Know the topic
• Know the format
• Buy time
• Have time to answer the question
• Correct misstatements
• Use notes
• Record the interview

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Interviewees Bill of Rights

• You Do Not Have the Right to
• Know the questions in advance
• See the story in advance
• Change your quotes
• Edit the story
• Expect your view be the only view
• Demand article be published

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Collect Your Clips!

• Keep hard copies of all print coverage web
  links disappear
• Save radio coverage to CD or mp3 if you can (or
  some other format)
• Order copies of TV coverage from the TV station
  (cheap) or get someone to tape you when youre on
  (free!)

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Questions?
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Debrief

• How well were objective met?
• What did you learn that was new?
• Where do you see yourself taking this knowledge?

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Stay in Touch

• Please contact us any time with questions!
• Ursula James-- ursulamjames_at_gmail.com
• Kylie LeBlanc-- leblanck_at_southwestern.edu
• If you would like a copy of this presentation, a
  sample press advisory, sample press release, or
  letter to the editor, just let us know!